Bye Bye Birdie

I've been busy revising my LAST MAN ON EARTH proposal. I'm finally making real progress. YAY! Not much else to report so I'll leave you with something that happened yesterday.

On the drive home from preschool, the youngest kidlet and I came across two birds in the middle of the road. One was sitting as if the road were its nest and the other standing next to it. I slowed down and went around them. As I did, the standing bird looked right at me. I drove past them then stopped. No other cars were on the road (which was surprising since it's an old highway with lots of traffic) so I backed up and told Rose that I was going to get the bird off the road.

When I reached the birds, the standing one flew away. I picked up the other one and noticed it's right wing looked funny. Although alert, it didn't move. I placed the bird on a patch of grass between the road and train tracks and headed back to the car. Rose told me that the birdie's friend was on the train tracks watching. Sure enough, I saw the other bird.

I glanced back. The hurt bird remained still, unmoving. I checked it again. By this time, the cars had returned to the road speeding by us at 40-50 mph. No way could I leave an injured bird alone so I grabbed a priority mail box I had in the back of the car. Rose was very excited at the thought of taking the bird home. I explained we would be taking the bird to an animal hospital not home where birds and cats would not get along very well.

When I picked up the bird to put it inside the box, the bird stood and then a few moments later, it hopped on its feet. I realized the bird was most likely stunned, not injured. I watched and waited. I moved the box and the bird flapped it's wings. It didn't fly far, but enough so I felt comfortable going.

Rose was sad we had to say bye to the birdie, but the romance writer in me was relieved. I would have hated taking it away from its "friend." I remembered a book written by Barbara Freethy with birds that mated for life. I'm not sure what type of birds these were, but I was so touched by the standing bird who wasn't going to leave the injured one even with a huge minivan heading toward them that I didn't want to separate them.

This morning we drove on the same road. Rose wanted to see if the birdie was still on the grass. It wasn't. I told her that both birdies had probably flown away to their nest. To take care of the baby birdies, she said. It wasn't a question, and I had a feeling she was right.